August 12 / 4:00-5:30 pm ET

Book Smarts for Bakers: Using Financials to Drive Success

Virtual Small-Group Workshops with Ellen Itskovitz 

You didn’t open a bakery to become an accountant — but understanding your numbers can help you make smarter decisions and take greater control of your business. This interactive workshop is designed to help bakery owners and operators move beyond the basics and start using financial insights to make confident, strategic choices that support long-term success. 

Led by financial expert Ellen Itskovitz of the Catalytic Impact Foundation, this 90-minute session will walk you through the core financial concepts and tools you need to evaluate the health of your bakery. 

What you’ll learn: 

• How to read and interpret three key financial statements: the income statement, cash flow statement, and balance sheet 

• How pricing decisions affect your revenue — and how both impact your overall profitability 

• How to identify and track the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that matter most to your bakery 

• How to use financial forecasting to plan for growth or manage uncertainty 

• Real-world examples and practical tools you can apply directly to your own business 

Each virtual workshop includes a focused 45-minute presentation, followed by interactive discussion and Q&A in a small-group setting — giving you space to ask the questions most relevant to your business. 

This workshop is being offered on three separate dates (August 12, August 26 and September 9) — you can choose the session that works best for you, but space is limited.  Register today to reserve your spot! 

Presenter:  

Ellen Itskovitz, Healthcare Industry Analyst and Institutional Investment, Consultant, Catalytic Impact Foundation 

Ellen Itskovitz is a senior financial executive, with more than 30 years of Wall Street investment management and banking/capital markets experience. She has led due diligence and analyzed investment opportunities across the capital structure throughout her 20 years in the investment world. She has a keen eye for assessing business plans, recognizing operational risks and evaluating growth opportunities.  

Ellen has followed the healthcare and consumer/food industries as an analyst and institutional investor. She initially worked as an analyst and investor with Lord Abbett where she was a partner, and UBS Asset Management. Most recently she served as an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.  Presently she is on the investment team at the Catalytic Impact Foundation (CIF) and serves on their Investment Screening Committee, helping to source and screen opportunities in healthcare for the greater CIF team. 

Prior to that Ellen had worked in banking, at ING Barings, Chase and the French Merchant Bank, Worms et Cie.  At Worms, she developed an understanding of the unique considerations of smaller organizations and companies. 

Ellen received her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with a specialization in finance. At the Booth School, she was a recipient of the Rockwell International Fellowship. Her BA is in economics and public policy from Duke University. She is a CFA charterholder. 

She currently serves on the advisory board of the Hot Bread Kitchen incubator, a New York city not-for-profit and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Duke University NY Women’s Forum.